So, what do you do when you’ve made a big mistake? David made a couple of them when he first decided to bring the Ark of God into the city of Jerusalem. He consulted the leaders of the various tribes to make sure they thought it was a good idea, but he didn’t consult God’s Word to determine how it the Ark was supposed to be carried. And because he simply assumed that it could be transported in the most practical way – in a cart, without the supervision and involvement of the Levites – God’s anger was unleashed and a man died.

So, what did David do? In the first place, he admitted his mistake. In verse 13, he points out that he, along with the rest of the people, did not seek God’s will before making such an important decision. In the same way, there’s no point in trying to cover up our errors or to shift the blame onto other people. When we screw up, we need to own it.

But we don’t need to stop there. Instead, like David, we need to do the best we can to correct our mistakes. After Uzzah died, David consulted God’s Word and then made sure that the Ark was carried in the proper way – by the Levites, who lifted it up with long poles inserted into rings on each side, walking with the poles on their shoulders so that no harm would come to either it or them. As verse 15 says, everything was done according to the Word of the Lord.

And the same thing must be true for us. After all, when we’ve made a wrong turn, the only thing to do is to stop going in the wrong direction and start heading in the right direction. And that means we not only need to study God’s Word so that we know what we’ve messed up and what we should have done instead. We also need to put that Word into practice, doing what is right, loving God with all we are and all we have and loving other people as self-sacrificially and unconditionally as Jesus has loved us.

So let’s put aside our pride and admit our mistakes. And let’s seek to know and to do only God’s will today.

I Chronicles 15:1-15 (ESV)

David built houses for himself in the city of David. And he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it.
2 Then David said that no one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, for the LORD had chosen them to carry the ark of the LORD and to minister to him forever.
3 And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the LORD to its place, which he had prepared for it.
4 And David gathered together the sons of Aaron and the Levites:
5 of the sons of Kohath, Uriel the chief, with 120 of his brothers;
6 of the sons of Merari, Asaiah the chief, with 220 of his brothers;
7 of the sons of Gershom, Joel the chief, with 130 of his brothers;
8 of the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the chief, with 200 of his brothers;
9 of the sons of Hebron, Eliel the chief, with 80 of his brothers;
10 of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab the chief, with 112 of his brothers.
11 Then David summoned the priests Zadok and Abiathar, and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab,
12 and said to them, “You are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites. Consecrate yourselves, you and your brothers, so that you may bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, to the place that I have prepared for it.
13 Because you did not carry it the first time, the LORD our God broke out against us, because we did not seek him according to the rule.”
14 So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel.
15 And the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the LORD.